Masks
by verisimiliitude
Summary: "She had blue skin And so did he. he kept it hid and so did she. they searched for blue their whole life through then passed right by — and never knew." — Shel Silverstein


4

Thor watched the man inside as he prowled slowly around the perimeter of the cell. Outwardly, he hoped he exuded confidence and his presence looked less like a plea for help and more like a invitation for redemption. It was supposed to be a power play. However, Thor knew that it was none of these things. He felt raw. Raw from Odin's harshness, from Jane's illness and from the gaping hole his mother's death had created. He knew it could be a deadly mistake to release him, but his brother's absence seemed to make everything worse.

"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help," Loki almost hissed, smiling slightly. His eyes followed Thor's path and he smirked. His brother looked awkward and tense. As always, disturbingly simple to read. Lonely without a toy? Loki thought to himself. Or just weak?

He looked sick, and half mad, and Thor hated every moment he had to look at him in this cell. Thor turned away and spoke, "I know you desire vengeance. As do I. Just know that when you betray me, I will kill you."

Loki's eyes glittered as he lifted his head off the wall. "When do we start?"

~~:::~~

After the endless boredom of four walls, Loki felt nearly overwhelmed with the simple order to wash and dress after he was escorted to the bath house. He had not been allowed to be completely by himself or to make his own decisions for some time now, and he was almost ashamed to admit that the openness of the room made him feel exposed.

Thor had thrown him into the room with clothes with the command to clean up. Thor had foolishly left him by himself and there was no one to watch him — Respect for his privacy? Surely not, after everything that had happened. Perhaps he really was as stupid as he had always thought. With disgust, he tore off his filthy clothes and threw them in a corner. He hastened to get into the warm pool of water waiting for him…until he suddenly sensed he was no longer alone. Whirling around with his hand already extended to cast some hex into the offender's face, he was caught even more off guard to see that it was Thor. "Thought better of leaving me here all alone, have you?" Loki asked snidely, effortlessly slipping back into his usual air of insufferable suavity.

"There…is another matter I wish to discuss with you," Thor replied, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on Loki's.

"Well, would you mind giving me a few moments? Now isn't the best time."

Thor took a deep breath. "This isn't part of the agreement to set you free…but…."

Loki waited a few moments but then growled, "But what? Spit it out."

"Do you remember when we were young?" Thor began in a rush. "Or that day at the lake…or after sparring when I knocked the wind out of you and you cried…Or the eve of my eighteenth birth —"

"Yes," Loki cut in, "I do remember, and all too vividly. Things I had thought we…you wanted to put behind us."

"At the time, I had believed so. But I've come to realize…" Thor took a few strides up to where Loki stood, wrapped an arm around his waist, and leaned down to press their mouths together.

Loki could not ignore the way his pulse sped up, and the way a fire sparked to life in his gut as he melded against the familiarity of his brother.

Loki gasped as strong hands tangled in his hair and pulled his neck back.

Loki laughed breathlessly, sighing when Thor nipped up his neck. "I thought it was a phase you had when you were young."

"No, it was not a phase, it was you," came the muffled reply.

"What of Jane?" Loki asked as he carefully disentangled himself from Thor. He walked over and submerged himself beneath the warm water. He had to stifle a moan…Gods, that felt good.

Thor was hurriedly and ungracefully pulling of his armor to join Loki.

"Jane is beautiful," Thor conceded, wading into the water. "She is a good friend and I have shared her bed. But what I truly crave is something she can never give." He ran a wet thumb over Loki's cheek.

"And what would that be?" Loki asked quietly.

Thor smiled, and placed his face in the crook of Loki's neck. "A challenge," he murmured, letting his hand trail down the taut expanse of Loki's stomach to settle over his erection.

Loki bucked his hips up as Thor loosely circled his cock with his fingers.

"I remember everything, Loki," Thor rumbled in a low voice into his ear, beginning to pump his hand lazily up and down Loki's length. "I remember how you like to be touched, how you get so excited at my words….and most of all how you like to be chained."

Loki shivered and cursed under his breath, leaning forward to twist his fingers into Thor's hair.

"Do you still like your hair to be pulled while I fuck you?" He felt Thor's cock jump against his thigh. Loki smiled. "I see that's a yes. Or to not be touched until you beg me to? Oh, brother…you haven't changed at all."

"Neither have you," Thor said, aligning his hips with Loki's and pushing their erections together. They both groaned, Loki's head falling forward to rest on Thor's shoulder. Thor put his hand around them both and stroked. Loki dug his nails into Thor's back, canting his hips up. Thor chuckled. "So eager. You always were for me, though."

"I…haven't been touched…" Loki almost sobbed, pushing damp hair out of his face.

Thor's hips stuttered and he crowded Loki backwards until he was trapped against the ledge of the pool and pushed a leg between Loki's thighs. "I want you spread for me, imagining my cock stretching you…Gods, Loki, you could take it all and still you begged for more. Like a wanton whore, you were so beautiful on my lap with your head thrown back, crying out…"

Loki wrapped a hand around Thor's, urging him to go faster. "More, please, it isn't enough…" Loki's long fingers went around Thor's length, running a finger over his slit and pulling forward with every stroke.

Thor's breath stuttered as Loki sighed. Squeezing Loki's cock and pulling, Thor whispered, "Tonight I'll spread you over my bed and lick you open and tie silk across your mouth so no one can hear you scream when you come without me laying a hand on you…"

And with that, Loki groaned, breath catching in his throat as he came. Closing his eyes, he said to the air, "Now you…Come on, brother, I know you were as close as me…has the thought of me back in your bed driving you mad every waking hour?…perhaps you thought of taking me in my cell, where everyone could see? You always did like to put on a show…"

Thor followed suit, coming over Loki's fingers and then laying boneless against the ledge.

Loki looked out the corner of his eye at him. "I'm surprised no one's interrupted us yet. Planned this, then, did you?"

Thor said nothing but smiled slightly.

"I thought your intent was to leave immediately. I still need to wash, you've only succeeded in making me even filthier."

"Well….I'd best help fix that."

~~:::~~

Loki laughed, casting a furtive glance at the man beside him and glancing back to make sure they were not followed. "I'm impressed. This is so secretive of you. I'm much more accustomed to having you punch your way out." He smiled pointedly. "I like it."

"We look rather conspicuous, though," Thor replied.

"Very well." A green sheen of light covered Loki and in his place stood a guard. "Better?"

"Better company, to say the least." Thor smiled and looked Loki up and down. "I have fond memories of you taking on a female form in the past. Perhaps you'd like to try that out again?"

Loki frowned. "Perhaps YOU would look better as one." He gave a quick nod and Thor felt a sensation like a cool mist wash over him. Looking down, he saw an entirely different view than he was used to.

"Oh, brother, you look ravishing," Loki crooned to a look-alike of Sif.

Intrigued as Thor was, he growled, "Yes, well, as much as I'd say to you once you're dead." However, the prospect of himself in a female body excited him more than he'd cared to admit. Many more possibilities had now been opened now that he had learned that Loki could shape shift him too.

Thoroughly enjoying himself more than he had in some time, Loki asked, "Perhaps one of your new friends, then, since you're so fond of them?"

Thor was shocked to see that after a moment he was walking beside The Captain, Steve Rogers.

"How does he go into battle with this armor? It's very tight," Loki commented in Rogers's voice. "What would he say? Shall I have a rousing discussion about freedom? I already feel myself wanting to enlist into the Allfather's private guard, to risk life and limb. Is that patriotic enough? Taxes. The free-enterprise system. Economic stability. God bless Amer —!"

Thor frantically shoved Loki against the nearest wall, putting a hand over his mouth as two actual guards walked past. After the threat had gone, Loki (looking like himself again) whispered, "You know, you could have furnished me with a physical weapon."

Thor sighed. "A weapon?" He pretended to consider it. "…Very well." He set a heavy metal object in Loki's hands.

Loki smiled. "Finally, some rationality —"

At that moment, the metal molded itself around Loki's wrists and expanded to show themselves as shackles. Loki snarled and attempted to lash out at Thor, who pinned him back against the wall and silenced him with a kiss, taking care to bite Loki's lower lip when he broke away. Loki panted breathlessly.

"I thought you quite liked tricks," Thor said lowly, before chuckling and continuing down the hallway with Loki looking furiously aroused behind him.


End file.
